Unique
by Artemis Rain
Summary: PostSabotage. Don sees Charlie in a new light.


Title: Unique  
Author: Artemis Rain  
Pairings: None  
Rating: K  
Spoilers: Sabotage  
Warning: may contain traces of silly cartoon characters.  
Genre: General, maybe a little bit of silliness toward the end.  
Summary: Post-Sabotage. Don sees Charlie in a new light.  
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Don't own much of anything, come to think of it. I'm a student. Trust me when I tell you that suing would be pointless.

xxxxx

Don had never been so impressed by his brother. It had been only a day since Frank Milton, train saboteur, had been brought to justice, thanks to Charlie's brilliant work deciphering his numerical message. Growing up, Don had never really understood what kinds of special "skills" Charlie had. He knew that Charlie learned quickly and spoke non-stop about subjects with long titles that meant nothing to Don. Later, Charlie produced work, the fruit of his genius, using numbers and symbols that Don didn't understand. He knew that Charlie was brilliant, but because he didn't understand his brother's work, and how difficult it was, he could never appreciate _how_ brilliant. Recently, seeing Charlie's considerable intellect applied to his own work, Don was beginning to develop a real appreciation for the things his brother's mind was capable of. Charlie had sat himself down and looked for a brief moment at the series of numbers that had puzzled Don's team, and the FBI cryptographers, for months. Immediately, he had seen connections and patterns in the arrangement of the numbers that Don hadn't even thought to look for.

"This note begins and ends with a prime number." Casually, just a first observation.

"This row and this column equal identical sums." After looking for only a moment?

"The grouping of four up here is the same as the grouping of four down here, only backwards." This one with a slight chuckle, as though he felt silly stating something so obvious.

"The only number repeated is 36."

Don's co-workers appeared equal parts impressed and stunned. Then Inspector Sutter had recognized his name. Don hadn't realized that Charlie's papers were used as instructional materials at MIT.

Normally, people's awe-struck reactions to Charlie made Don feel like a child again. In this case, for the first time in his life, he allowed himself to share in that awe. He didn't feel like a child. He didn't feel ignored. He didn't feel jealous. He just felt… small. Maybe even… insignificant. And almost… maybe… a little… intimidated? Like, with all the bitterness and jealousy that had always tainted his view of Charlie, Don had failed to realize just how impressive his brother truly was. It was with those same feelings that he had listened to Charlie explain, just yesterday, that he didn't have time to build a computer program to sort though "over a hundred thousand data points" regarding the trains leaving the switchyard, but would do the comparisons himself. It was a smashing success, as usual. But the bitterness that usually accompanied Don's realizations that he had been outdone by Charlie once again was noticeably absent. He had really meant it when he told his brother how grateful he was for his help, and how impressed he was.

Later, at Charlie's and his father's house, he had watched with pride as his brilliant kid brother enthusiastically expounded the virtues of mathematics to a table of skeptical agents.

These thoughts were still running through Don's head as he drove up to his family home. Though he had been there just yesterday, he wanted to stop by again to check in with his father, and to find out how Charlie was enjoying being a homeowner. They hadn't really had a chance to talk the night before. He arrived at the house shortly, walked in the front door and greeted his father, who was sitting in his favourite chair, reading a book.

"Hey, Dad! What's up?"

"Hey! Good to see you again, Donnie! I was just catching up on some reading."

"Yeah, right. Hey, is Charlie around?"

"Yeah, he's watching TV in the other room."

"TV?" Don smirked. "Aren't you afraid it'll rot his brain?"

His father smiled. "Nah, it's good for him. Keeps that overactive mind of his from blowing a fuse."

Don chuckled in agreement and made his way toward the adjacent room. He reached the doorway and paused when he heard a sound, somewhere between a chuckle and a giggle, definitely made by his brother, emanate from within, followed by the quiet sound of a nasally, childlike voice saying "Sorry, Pineapple-house. I thought you were someone else." Another chuckle-giggle. Don peeked his head into the room and saw Charlie, oblivious to Don's presence, sitting in a chair, leaning forward with his chin resting on his hands and his elbows on his knees, a great big smile on his face.

His brother, the prodigy with an unparalleled mental capacity and immeasurable intellect, was watching _Spongebob Squarepants._

Don stifled a laugh and considered making his presence known. He was curious to see how Charlie would react to being caught watching what was perhaps the silliest and most juvenile cartoon on television by his serious and respected older brother. Eventually, he decided to let it go. Turning, he went back to join his father. Charlie deserved a break, and, after all, it would be a nice little tidbit to pull out the next time Charlie tried to tell someone that story about a young Don and a certain stuffed penguin named "Mr. Fancypants." Don smiled; the faint sounds of ukulele music drifted from the room and followed him back to his father.

It was undeniable: there was certainly no one on the planet quite like his baby brother.

And Don wouldn't trade him for anything in the world.


End file.
